TROY -- New York Yankees pitching prospect Tommy Kahnle hopes to one day button up pinstripes and storm out of the bullpen and onto Yankee Stadium grass to close out a game.

The 21-year old Latham native just concluded his first professional spring training camp at the Yankees minor league complex in Tampa, Fla, a short drive to George M. Steinbrenner Field.

"It's been long but it's going well," he said. "It's a lot different then I thought it would be it's tough to go through. You get up early and your pretty much there all day."

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The Shaker High graduate will head to the Yankees long season Class A affiliate, the Charleston River Dogs in South Carolina to start the season. Charleston pitching coach Carlos Chartres projects Kahnle will be used out of the bullpen as a reliever/closer.

"I want to pitch well; my goal is to end up in Trenton (Class AA). I want to throw a lot of strikes and not allow too many walks or stupid errors that I can control. I'm really looking to pitch as a closer for every level that I go up. I want this to be my role and I want to make the all-star team for the league we're in, that's one of my goals," Kahnle said of what he hopes to accomplish in his first full year as a pro.

He was mentored in spring training by Yankees pitching coordinator and former MLB pitching coach Nardi Contreras. Contreras gained both notoriety and some occasional grief for developing pitching guidelines for New York reliever Joba Chamberlain, also known as the "Joba rules."

"The coaches have expressed a lot of interest in me and my future as a closer or reliever. That's what I get for all my coaches here," Kahnle said.

Kahnle left Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla after his sophomore season to enter the Major League first year player draft in June 2010. The Yankees selected him in the fifth round.

The 6-foot, 225-pound righty pitched for Staten Island late last summer in Class A short season.

A three-sport athlete for the Blue Bison, Kahnle earned a scholarship to Division II Lynn after a few summers pitching for the South Troy Dodgers. He served as a closer in college, shutting down Emporia State in 2009 to win the Div. II championship game.

"I've been working on kinks in my mechanics. There've been a couple outings that I thought I didn't do well and a couple where I thought I did well. I haven't really gotten too much feedback on how I've done from the coaches. They've been working with me a lot to get my mechanics down and become a better pitcher rather than a thrower," Kahnle said.

The minor leaguers only interact with the Yankees when they come over to get extra at-bats or play additional innings in minor league scrimmages. "I haven't interacted with anybody but I seen a good amount of them come over," the Cincinnati Reds fan said.

Kahnle's success as a member of the Dodgers led to him earning a baseball scholarship and helped him catch the eye of MLB scouts.

"Ever since I was in ninth grade I've been a part of the Dodgers. Wayne Jones, George and Kevin Rogers and Todd Bradley pretty much all those guys have been helping me," he said of his South Troy coaching staff.

When he's back in the area for the off-season, he gets his work in at All-Stars Academy in Latham.

As the 21-year-old's career progresses in the Yankees minor league system, he has a number of things to improve on.

"I'm really focused on working down in the zone and being able to command my pitches and throwing them where I want to for strikes. That's my main thing right now is to command pitches," he said.

Kahnle's feature pitch is the fastball, which has been clocked between 90-98 mph and he's aware he will need to acquire a few more quality pitches in order to earn a spot in a Major League bullpen.

"I'm developing a slider and trying to command my fastball, even though it's a good fastball. I have a good changeup so I'm just working on my slider and fastball right now. My changeup is always going to be there," he said of his repertoire.

For right now, he is realizing a lifelong dream and wishes to make the most of his opportunity as he feels baseball is his calling. "This is what I want to do; I couldn't see myself doing anything else. It's a lot better than I thought and it's a lot better than being at school and doing other things, I like it a lot. It's a real good time," he said.